Astrid knits her way out

minestrone

Minestrone is a traditional italian soup made from leftovers. This a pattern for using up all your yarn leftovers. So I call these socks Minestrone.
In 2006 I have knitted socks with leftovers: the herringbone. Also I admire the socks of Socklady

These socks are a combination of the herringsocks and the socklady-socks (with her blessing!)

Materials:
About 60 gr. of blue (Opal sock yarn 4 ply)
About 50 gr. of leftovers
5 sockneedles 2 ½ mm – US #1
tapestry needle

Pattern:
Cuff:
Cast on 72 stitches with blue yarn.
Divide sts between 4 needles as follows: 18 stitches on each needle. Join to begin working in the round, being careful not to twist. Place marker at begin of needle 1.
Work 20 rows in 2x2 Rib.
Leg:
Knit the leg according chart 1 (blue= blue yarn, white = leftover).
Hold one color in each hand, using the Continental method for the left-hand yarn, and the English or American method with the right-hand yarn. (this video can be very usefull)
Heel:
Knit a short row heel in the colour blue:
Decreasing:
Knit needles 1, 2 and 3.
Slip the stitches of needle 4 on needle 1) remove marker
Right side: * Knit 1, knit two stitches together (k2to) knit the remaining stitches until the last three stitches : k2 to, knit 1. (after 1 row there are 34 stitches left)
Turn work
Wrong side: purl first and last stitch, knit the stitches in between.
Turn work
Repeat from * until there are 12 stitches left. End with wrong side. Turn. (the right side is now facing you)
Increasing:
Pick along both sides 12 stitches (you can easily use the loops of the first stitches and last stitches form the wrong side)

the following rows are used to increase until the original stitches are on the knitting needle again:
* slip first stitch, knit the remaining stitches (11 in this row) AND knit one stich of the needle on the side. (knit this stitch by knitting through back of the loop)
Turn work.
Repeat from * until there are 34 stitches on the knitting needle.

Last two rows:
Slip first stitch, knit the remaining stitches. Pick up the yarn with left needle which runs between last stitch on the needle and the first stich of the back of the heel. Knit this new stitch together with the last stitch through back of loop.
Turn
Right side is facing.
Devide work on 4 needles (18 each)
Knit 18 stitches: you have reached the original needle 1. place marker
Foot:
Knit according chart 2.
Toe:
Knit the toe in blue.
Round 1: knit
Round 2:
Last 3 stitches of needle 1 and 3: ssk (slip 2 stitches, then knit them together), knit one.
First 3 stitches of needle 2 and 4: knit one, knit 2tog.
Repeat round 1 and 2, 3 times.
Knit next round.
Knit the next rounds like round 2 until there are 16 stitches remaining. (4 on each needle)
Put stitches of needles 1 and 4 on one needle
Put stitches of needles 2 and 3 on one needle.
Remove marker.
Finishing:
Put the needles parallel to eachother:

Knit 2 stitches at the same time: 1 from the front needle and one from the back needle:

repeat.
Now you have 2 stitches on the right needle. Pull the first stitch over the second:


Repeat this until there is one stitch left. Pull thread through this remaning stitch.
Weave in ends. Block socks if desired.

Chart 1

Chart 2

preparing minestrone

Jamie!

I am sure that you know Jamie Oliver. His recipes are the best: there is always 1 ingredient that seems odd but after preparing the food it turns out the ingredient makes it special and wonderful tasty. For example: the cinnamon in the chili con carne or the lemmon in jool's favourite beef stew. Another reason why I love Jamie is the fact that he makes you understand the ingredients and his recipe: he explaines why some of the ingredients are essantial or can be replaced.
These are the most used cooking-books I have:

His books are like a bible and I am his follower.

He also has a wonderful knitted cap that he wears often (I have seen him wearing it many times on tv) :

(photo: David Loftus)
In admiration I have made a pattern of it and knitted 2 versions:
1. the gourmet Jamie : in reality a copy-cat version.
2. the home-grown Jamie: home spun and dyed, because he wants us to grow our own vegetables and never buy meat from the bio-industry.

If you are a Jamie-follower as I am, than pick up the needles and knit one: make the pattern your own and choose the colors that you like best. But there are 2 essential ingredients:
1. the red meander
2. only pure wool!

Jamie! gourmet (my son Rik as a Jamie-look-alike)

Jamie! home grown

Jamie!

Ingredients serves 2 :

4 double point needles US #10 / 8 mm
4 large stitch markers (or simply make your own with a bit of yarn)
Tapestry needle

Use only pure wool! We go for gourmet so the ingredients must be of a high quality. I used Super Lana from Lana Grossa and Jill Superwash, but a great altenative is Patons Classic Merino , available in all sort of colors. Take one skein of each colour.

Use two strands of yarn held together!

Gauge:
15,5 stitches /19 rows = 4 inches / 10 cm

+ Use two strands of yarn held together.
+ Use the chart for the motif and for the colors. (the chart is ¼)

Cast on 64 stitches and devide them on 3 needles ( I use 32, 16, 16 so the motif is devided in a logical way, but do as you please) be carefull not to twist.
Row 1 – 10 : * knit 2, purl 2, repeat from *
Knit the following rows.
Row 31: place markers between stiches 7 and 8, 23 and 24, 39 and 40, 55 and 56.
Start in row 32 decreasing as follows (begin 3 stitches before every marker):
K2tog (knit two stitches together), knit one, slip marker, knit one, ssk (Slip two stitches as if to knit, then knit them together) .
Make thes decreases in row 32, 34, 36, 38, 40 and 42.
Don’t knit the last stitch of row 41 but slip it on the next needle , then start with K2tog. Do this also with the last stitch of every needle of row 42.
Row 43: remove markers.
Row 45: * K2tog. Repeat from *
Cut the yarn and draw it through the 8 remaining stitches while pulling it.

Weave in ends, put the hat on and you’ll be laughing!

blank knit
P Purl
\ K2tog (knit two stitches together)
/ Ssk (slip two stithes as if to knit, then knit those two stitches together)

a happy 45 year old wearing a knitted skirt

I am 45 years old and don't want to look 18 (really!) and I certainly don't want to look like a 45-year-old-who-wants-to-look-like-she's-18-and-obviously-is-not. But I also don't want to look like a 45-year-old-who-wears-clothes-as-if-she-was-70. Sometimes that is very difficult. Look like and dress according the actual age, that is my dress-code. I hope this skirt lives up to that code. If not: show no mercy and tell me. I will not wear this at work because I sit most of the day and I am afraid the bottom will pop up in the knitting! It's more a stay-standing or walking kinda skirt. So going to the markets at friday will be the perfect setting for showing off.

knitting a skirt

At M + M I found this knittingkit. A friend of mine has already knitted the skirt and warned me about the amount of yarn ( the lack of it). Especcialy the brown was just enough: she had 10 cm of brown yarn left. So I figured that it would be best to knit the front and back at the same time: first half of one piece, then the other. When I would run out of a colour I could easy switch to another and still have two simular parts of the skirt. Good thinking Robin. What could go wrong?
This:
First I knitted with bamboo needles (5 mm):

Then with metal needles (also 5 mm!):

And this was the result when I was halfway:

Isn't that the strangest thing? Both 5 mm needles and such a difference. Anyway: I thought the metal needles did their job the best, so I frogged the part knitted on the bamboo needles.
To be continued!